she was able to raise three children by herself and have a successful career serving the people of marina and sonoma counties. she's been a tireless voice for family-friendly policies, for protecting the coastline of northern california and for bringing our troops home and ending the misguided wars in iraq and afghanistan. lynn was a leader of the congressional progressive caucus and i call her the mom of the caucus. and her passionate voice on progressive issues, she will be missed. her leadership will be missed and it will be a great vacuum for us to fill in the future. bob filner had a years' long odyssey for filipino veterans who fought along u.s. troops in world war ii but were denied benefits through their service. so the war -- the united states congress broke its promise it had made to these veterans and for decades to follow, they struggled to secure fair treatment, similar to that afforded to the men who fought alongside them. as chairman of veterans' affairs committee, bob filner was in the middle of this fight. i wish him well as he moves on to a new phase to his service to th